Belt conveyer system.



DATEN TBD JUNE 9, 1908.

y No. 890,292.

J. B. MONBTTE.

BELT GONVBYER SYSTEM. liAPPLIATON FILED FEB. 17, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED JUNE 9, 1908.

J. B. MONETTE.

BELT CONVEYER SYSTEM.

APPLIOATION FILED 1153.17. 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

FEIE.

MTA/5.52555, v L l l Z t PATENT oEEIo'E.

r JOSEPH B. MONETTE, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND BELT coNvE'YER sYs'rJaui/r.k

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 9, 1908.

Application filed February 17, 1908. Serial No. 416,204.

' a resident of Providence, in the county of Providence and State oi Rhode Island, have invented'certain new and useful Improvements in Belt Conveyer Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in what are termedbelt-conveyer or traveler systems wherein continuously propelled belts are employed for conveying or transporting merchandise or articles placed thereon from one part of a plant or store to another portion of it, or to elevate the goods from one floor to another, and it consists in the novel construction, arrangement and manner ofmounting the belts and coperatinv devices, all as more fully hereinafter set i@ rth and claimed.

The object of the invention is to provide stores, markets, 6to., with improved means for carryingv the customers purchases from the salesman to the packing and shipping departments. The invention is, however, more particularly adapted for elevating the thu's sold goods or merchandise to a higher plane or floor and discharging the same onto a conveniently located stationary table.

By means oi this improvement the efficiency of the conveyer system is greatly increased; it is positive in its action and conveys the goods without injury; it readily adapts .itself to the conveyance of packages or articles placed indiscriminately upon the belt and varying greatly in size, form and weight, and the cost of installation is relative y small when compared with other conveyer S stems employing belts having a corres on ing width.

n the accompanying two sheets of drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a conveyer system embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a corresponding longitudinal sectional view, showing the general arrangement of the belts, mountings, &c., the

frame or housing being omitted. 3 is a end portion of the apparatus.

top plan view, showing the upper or elivery Fig. 4 is a artial longitudinal sectional view, in enarged scale, taken on line x a: of Fiff. 6. Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken on Iine 5 5 of Fig. 4, and Fig.` 6 a similar section taken on line 6 6 of Fig. 4.

I In the drawings, Fig. 1, N designates a wall and f and 1 lower and upper oors, respectively, of a uilding having my improved belt-conveyer system installed therein. The laterally separated vertical sides c c and bottom c2 of the housingare suitably supported by rods o and posts y. The conveyer pro er consists of the two positively driven end ess belts a and b, made of leather or other suitable iiexible material. Said letters, aJ b, also respectively designate the pulling or driving sides oi the belts, while ax and tx indicate the other or normally slack sides.

The main conveyer-belt a as represented in the drawings has one portion thereof disposed in a horizontal plane, the other ortion extending upwardly 1n an inclined p ane at an angle of about 30. As drawn, the delivery or discharge portion of the belt asses over and in frictional contact with the riven upper o r head roll r, located contiguous to the receiving table t1. Power is transmitted from a continuously running belt d3 to a pulley d1l secured to shaft 2 carrying the driving-roll 77. Intermeshing spur gears g1 ixed to the front end of the shafts of said rolls, 77, r, positively rotate the latter in 0pposite directions and in unison.

The upper or driving side of the belt a is su orted on suitably spaced freely revolugliJ transversely arranged Wooden rolls r. See also Figs. 4 and 5. Each roll 1' is necked or reduced in diameter near its ends, see r4 Fig. 5, thus forming journals revoluble in the narrow longitudinally extending stationary wooden rails d. The latter in turn being maintained in a fixed position with respect to the housing by transverse wooden`space pins e, these are reduced at e1 to pass through the rails and again at e2 to snugly enter and be conined in corresponding holes formed in the sides c of the housing. See Fig. 6. At the intersection of said horizontal and inclined planes or sections are mounted a set of three horizontal revoluble rolls r1 (Fig. 4) for guiding the belt ay at that point; the two upper ones revolve in one direction and are separated laterally so as to permit the passage of the adjacent portions ofthe traveling be t, as clearly shown. The lower or normally slack side ax of the belt extends downwardly from the driving roll 1, under the swinging weight or take-up roll p2, thence over the series of supporting rolls p revoluble in bearings p1,

, or other suitable means.

round the four freely turning supporting and guide rolls r2 (Fig. 4) disposed with respect to said rolls r1, and over the series of supporting rolls p located in the horizontal plane, and finally over the enlarged initial or tail roll p3 to the said upper set of supporting rolls r.

The companiony or auxiliary endless conveyer-belt b before referred to is represented as extending-upwardly and parallel with the said inclined portion of the main belt a. This belt, b, is also positively driven, the means therefor, as drawn, being as follows The lower or delivery side of the belt passes between and in frictional contact with the faces of the suitably mounted upper and lower horizontal rolls, k1, k. The lower or driving roll 7c is rotated by power transmitted bybelt n from a pulley secured to the rear end of the said shaft d2 of roll 117. See Figs. 1 and 3. Thesize of the pulleys, &c., are roportioned so that the driving or conveying sides of the two belts, a and b, are propelled in unison, the rate of speed being substantially the same for both. The upper roll k1 is provided with a weighted lever g, &c., for varying the degree of pressure upon the belt b at that point. The lower or driving side of belt b is materially longer than the upper or normally slack side, thereby producing a considerable excess or amount of looseness at its lower or receiving end portion, as indicated at bw. 'See also Fig. 4. The weight of said driving side of the belt tends to normally keep the said loose portion thereof at the lower end, the other part of the driving side at the same time resting directly upon, being supported by and moving in unison with the c orresponding driving side of the inclined portion of belt c. Thelupper side bx of belt b is supported by andis adapted to slide freely upon the inclined stationary base or board m, in turn supported by-posts y Narrow side flanges L serve to maintain the belt in position laterally. At the foot of said incline the belt part bx runs over a flanged guide-roll b4 revoluble in bearings y1; shown also in Fig. 6. Fixed ulpper side guard-rails or flanges c1 extend a ong the horizontal portion of belt c and merge into correspondlng members il extending throughout the length of the inclined part, between which members the then two contacting belts, a b, upwardly travel.

Assuming now that the two continuously propelled conveyer-belts and the several coperating devices have been constructed,-

arranged and ositioned substantially as represented in t e drawings, the manner of operation may be described as follows: The salesman removes from the table or counter t the goods or merchandise purchased by the customer and places them'singly and indis- 'criminately (indicated at u) upon the conveniently accessible upper or exposed side of the horizontal portion of the quickly moving belt a; the latter now carries the thus deposited articles '11. to the continuously o en wedge-shaped mouth or receiving en 2, formedat the point where the said lower loose or surplus portion bw of the correspondingly moving auxiliary upper belt b impinges li htly u on the proximate surface of'the fe low be t a. The articles u are successively received, between the belts at said point z, the u er belt at the same time flexing so as to infb d or a proximately .conform to them; the continued .the belts carry the artlcles u the incline. At the point where the two elts separate from each other the lower -one continues a short distance further in a nearly horizontal` and conjoint movements of Y plane (see c2 Fig. 2) and successively dis- Y vh1, the device being employed for automatically taking up the stretch or slackness of belt a.,

By means of this improvement, hereinbefore set forth, it is obvious that practically no pressure is borne by the articles or units u during their conveyance up the inclined plane, and there -is no tendency of the unit to slip or slide because the two conveyer-belts enveloping it move in unison and are always -in frictional contact with each other sufficiently to prevent one belt from sliding upon the other.

After a unit has beencarried along by the belts from the point 2 to the small space 21, lying between the two upper parallel rolls r1 at the junction of the horizontal and inclined "5 planes (Fig. 4), the action of the two belts together with the direction of rotation of the right upper roll r1 serves to still maintain the f belt a running around said two rolls r1 would be fed to' the conveyer.

The lower or driving side of the freely flexible auxiliary belt b is materially longer than it supper or return side, as before stated, thereby providing-a considerable extent of looseness, bw, at the lower' or feed 'end por# tion where the units are introducedbetween clined section, without rendering it too con-f tracted or taut at the free end. The dotted lines, Fig. 4, indicate different ositions of the belt portion bw correspon ing to the presence of more or less units while the latter are bein carried upwardly on the inclined part of t e conve er.

It may be adiied that in my improved belt-conveyer system no moving chains or links or other analogous means are associi ated with or employed for driving and directly supporting the two working or conveyer-belts, a and b. The said belts are flat and .flexible (the upper one, b, sessing the greater degree of have the contiguous workin thereof in continuous actual contact with each other and also traveling in unison or concurrently. The belt b-h'as an excess of slackness, b5, or reserve length at its lower end ortion so as to provide or compensate for t e amount of said art that maybe taken up by the articles wIiile they are being conveyed u the incline. The belt is capable ofjrea 'y bending or flexing so as to automatically adapt itself to articles or packages, lu., varlving more or less in size, placed at interva s upon the upper. or workreferably posexibility) and sides or runs 1n side of the continuously traveling main e t member a., as they successively arrive at and enter the o en mouth or point z between the belts. he construction, arrangement and manner of operation of the belt b constitutes an important feature of my present invention.

I claim as In invention, and desire to secure by Unite States Letters Patent 1. In a belt-conveyer system, the combination with a suitably supported -iiexible linkless endless main conveyer-belt, and

means for propelling the same, of an auxiliary flexible linkless endless fellow conveyerbelt mounted above and having its working portion or run normally su ported by and directly superposed upon t e upper working part or run of said main-belt and also arranged to lbe pro elled at substantially the same rate of spee as the main-belt; the said working portion of the auxiliary belt member having increased slackness or surplus stock at its lower end whereby it is capable of automatically exing so as to adapt itself to successively receive and partly infold articles or packages varying in size disposed at intervals along the adjacent working surface of the main-belt.

2. In a belt-conveyer system, the combination of an endless flexible linkless main oonveyer-bel't, an endless flexible linkless auxiliary conveyer-belt having its driving or side' of said main-bel or driving side of the'aux-iliary'belt member being materially longer and slacker than its other or normally slack side ortion so as to provide means or allow for t e taking u of the belt by the articles or packages Wlilile they are being conveyed up the incline, the auxiliary belt Iat the same time a proximately conforming to the outline of t e articles being conveyed.

3. In a belt-conveyer system, the combination of anendless flexible and pliable main lower belt and an endless up er flexible and pliable auxiliary conveyer-be t member havlng the proximate portions of the two belts in actual normal frictional contact with each other and constituting the driving sides or runs of the belts between which the articles to be transported arein'trodueed, conveyed and discharged the driving side of the mainbelt being substantially flat and taut, and having the lower or feed end portion of the u per belt provided with an excess amount of) su lus stock whereby the belt is rendered capab e of apl roximately ada ting itself toy the Shape of t e various articles being conveyed and hold them in place while they are bein transported, and means for propelling the elts at a substantially uniform rate of speed.

4. In a conveyer-belt system, the combination of a suitably supported endless main conveyer-belt arranged in horizontal and inclined lanes, a tension or take-up device for said? belt, an endless auxiliary conveyerbelt disposed above and substantially parallel with the inclined portion of said main belt, the lower side of the auxiliary belt and the upper side of the main beltconstituting the working or 'driving sides and being in continuous normal contact with each other and Capable ofyieldin so as to receive individual articles between t em, and having the lower portion; b5, of the auxiliary belt extending in a loose manner at the receiving end of the runway whereby the belt is capable of agiproximately conformin to the outline of t e articles being conveye means for varying the tensionv of the auxiliary belt, and means for driving both belts at a substantially uniform rate' of speed.

5. In a belt-conveyer system, the combination of an inclined endless conveyer-belt having its up er or driving side supported on friction ro ers spaced to prevent it from sagging, an endless auxiliary conveyer-belt mounted above and substantially parallel with said main belt having its lower or driving side resting upon and sup ortedby direct for ropelling the two belts at a substantially contact with the driving si e of the main un` orm rate of speed. 10 belt, a stationary bbard or-Inember Jfor slid- Signed at Providence, R. I., this Mth'day ably su portin the upper side of the auX- of February 1908.

iliary be t, the rivin\side of the latter being- JOSEPH B. MOETTE. materiall len thene so as to adapt it to au- Witnesses: tematica ly fo d or Wrap itself partly around GEO. H. REMINGTON,

the articles being conveyed, and mechanism -HENRY P. STONE. 

